A new bill will allow a person to be tried and convicted of a criminal offence without seeing all the information relied on by the Crown and without the right to be present, the NZ Law Society says.

Asia-Pac firm head a top choice for global managing partner

The managing partner of Linklater’s Asia-Pacific region is one of six front-runners in the global managing partner election. Marc Harvey is one of six formally-announced candidates to replace Simon Davies. The others are global banking chief Gideon Moore, head of projects and finance Michael Kent, disputes head Michael Bennett, Pieter Riemer who is managing partner for Western Europe and operational intelligence co-head Tom Shropshire. The partnership board will make their choice before putting the candidate to a formal vote later this year.Dentons rumoured to be in fresh merger talksInternational law firm Dentons, which is yet to formally complete its merger with China’s Dacheng, continues to seek opportunities expand in the meantime. Bloomberg reports that the firm is in talks with an 80-lawyer firm in the UK about a possible tie-up. Matthew, Arnold & Baldwin has not confirmed the report. Spokesperson Freddie Harrison told Australasian Lawyer: “We have had a number of discussions with various firms as part of our longer-term strategy. We never comment on any such discussions.”India says number of fake lawyers will be identified (within 7 months)The Bar Council of India says that it has yet to identify how many unqualified lawyers are working in the country but will do so within 7 months. It is acting following comments reportedly made by its chairman Manan Kumar Mishra that 30 per cent of all lawyers in India are fake.Chinese Supreme Court opens legal research centreThe Supreme People’s Court has opened the first of a string of legal research centres as part of the “One Belt, One Road” initiative which aims to boost trade between countries. The research centre will draw on experienced legal brains in various practices as the court bolsters its international law research beyond its current focus of territorial disputes. The South China Morning Post reports that the first centre is in the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law and additional ones are planned at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Tsinghua University, and the China University of Political Science and Law.